Part Two

Benji hadn’t been to see his grandfather and Luther in a few days. He had just been too busy with homework and chores. So when he came home from school and saw his mama crying and when he heard her eek out ‘Grandfather’ through her tears, he knew something bad had happened. As fast as he could, he ran to his grandfather’s house. Without stopping even once, Benji made it all the way to the front porch in no time at all. The door was open.

“Grandfather? Luther?” But there was only silence. Benji was all alone. He peered around the room. There on the kitchen table was an envelope. It said Benji on the outside. He opened it up and this is what it said:

Dear Benji,
I am going away for a while and I want you to know how much I will miss
you. Things just won't be the same without you and Luther. But don’t you
worry, I will check on you now and again and will do my best to look out
for you no matter where I go. I do have one request of you in return,
however. Will you, Benji, will you please take care of my guitar? It’s in the
hall closet in the black case. I think it has waited its whole life for you.
And perhaps you, too, have waited much of your life for it—you, with the
hands made for creating beauty. Please, dear Benji, please give the
instrument your love and believe you me, it will return your love many-fold.
This, I can promise you.
I love you, Grandson,
Grandfather

From that day forward Benji went nowhere without his guitar. When he took a shower, it sat next to the bathroom sink. When he went to school it sat next to his desk. Even when he ran errands for his mama on his bicycle, the guitar came too, strapped to his back.

Then one day when he was waiting for the bus that would take him to school, Benji strummed a string. He felt a surge of energy rise up from deep within his tummy. “Wow,” he thought to himself, “maybe this is what my grandfather meant. I haven’t ever felt anything quite like that before.” Instead of getting on the bus, Benji turned for the woods. He couldn’t think about school or teachers or math, all he wanted to do was strum those strings. So that is exactly what he did.